Is BYOW the Next Wireless Growth Trend?

Is BYOW the Next Wireless Growth Trend?

It is Time to Add Wearables to Your Strategic IT Roadmap.

Similar to the BYOD trend that saw consumer-based decisions resulting in smartphones of all varieties showing up in enterprises, and sending the likes of BlackBerry scrambling to retain market share, wearables like Fitbits and Apple watches, are showing up in enterprises but not with the same disruptive force as the former BYOD trend.

This year’s CES revealed an entirely new realm of wearable form factors and the innovation engine is not likely to slow down. Since wearables are a relatively new category they are not challenging the status quo of corporate liable smartphones and tablets. However, IT and line-of-business leadership should start evaluating applications for utilizing this new compute capability. Wearables represent a compelling new frontier and opportunity to achieve additional productivity gains beyond what traditional mobile devices have delivered.

The industries that are early adopters of wearables include healthcare, automotive, field force, third party logistics, retail, tech, military and business services. Wearables provide an opportunity to enable specialized tasks to be executed more efficiently and/or safely.

Line-of-business and IT leaders should explore the potential application of wearables across specific employee segments. Wearables offer the promise of real time data capture and feedback resulting in better decisions. Wearables can monitor the environment and alert employees when their work environments become hazardous. Wearables also hold the promise of seamless, hands-free information delivery, location management and efficiency analysis.

While deploying fitness bands to all employees and helping them achieve greater levels of health could have a huge positive impact on all workforces and dramatically reduce enterprise healthcare costs, not all employees would be willing to participate. In order for an enterprise wearable initiative to be successful you have to facilitate participation by having a high level of privacy. In addition to privacy, here are some critical considerations for your wearables proof of concept:

Seamless wearables need to be unrestrictive in delivering value when an employee is performing tasks. The wearable should facilitate and enhance the employee’s ability to perform critical tasks without being cumbersome and disruptive.

Comfortable the last thing employees will want to do is add technology that makes their work any more uncomfortable than it already is. Therefore you will need to test an adequate breadth of form factors to make sure every employee is comfortable.

Durable employees need to have confidence that they are not going to have to manage wearables that are fragile and prone to breaking. Spending time on replacement processes and help desk calls will negatively impact your results.

Automation wearables should provide a substantial value by enhancing the employee’s primary tasks through automated engagement that augments their capabilities and performance.

Contextual a wearable proof of concept should include contextual awareness. Contextual awareness is a powerful way to deliver on the next item on the list High Utility. Wearables have the opportunity to be highly responsive and predictive and deliver notifications, rich content and mission critical data based on the users circumstances.

High Utility the perceived value of wearables should be significant and immediate in order to positively reinforce adoption.

Secure wearables have the potential of increasing the threat surface for cyber criminals. It is imperative for successful deployments to secure data that is resident and in the cloud.

Easily Managed there will be an explosion of endpoints once wearables gain momentum. These mobile devices will need to be effectively managed in order to achieve visibility, control and cost management targets.

OVATION Wireless Management is on the leading edge of enterprise mobility and helping enterprises manage their current mobile connected environments while helping them evolve to realize the benefits of new and advanced wireless technologies. New technologies like wearables and 5G will also require utilization management and cost controls in order to deliver an ROI.